Many portable electronic devices such as, for example, digital cameras, digital video cameras, digital voice recorders, digital diaries, personal digital assistants, digital organisers, digital media players, and MP3 players, must be physically and electrically connected to a host computer to enable downloads and uploads of digital content. The digital content may be, for example, images, video images, marketing material, music content, and so forth. The application to manage and control uploads and downloads resides in the host computer. This is not always convenient.
This is because the electronic device has a processor that is incapable of independently exporting digital data captured by the apparatus. The portable apparatus requires a connection with the host computer to and the host computer imports the digital data captured by the apparatus, and the host computer exports digital data from the host computer to the electronic device. For all relevant functions the host computer controls the process. For example, a digital camera (still or video) will normally require a connection to a host computer for digital data captured by the digital camera to be uploaded to the computer. Alternatively, a memory card or similar non-volatile memory of the digital camera may be removed and inserted into the host computer for the digital data stored in the memory card to be uploaded to the host computer. Once stored in the host computer's memory, the digital data can be uploaded to a web site. For example, there are many web sites allowing the storing of personal photographs—“FaceBook” and “U-Tube” being but two of many examples. This requires access to a host computer for uploading to take place. This may not always be convenient.